Iva+Triplet


 * SUMMARY: Iva Triplett, age 28, died on March 9, 1921, after an abortion perpetrated in Akron, Ohio by Dr. C. W. Milliken.**

On March 1, 1921, Dr. C.W. Milliken performed an abortion on 28-year-old Iva J. Triplett. Milliken was practicing in Akron, Ohio. Immediately after the abortion, Iva became severely ill. She continued under Milliken's care until she died of septicemia and peritonitis on March 9, leaving a widower and children. The May 4, 1921 Elyria, Ohio //Chronicle Telegram// described Milliken as a "prominent democratic politician."

Jacob Heddesheimer, administrator of Iva's estate, sued not only for the injury but for failure to inform Iva's family of the nature of her illness so that they could seek and provide appropriate care for her.

The year before Iva's death, Milliken had performed an abortion on Francis Karies, who died in Chicago. The coroner had recommended that Milliken be prosecuted, but there is no record that the authorities took any action, even though they'd been told he was dangerous before he took his instruments to Iva Triplet.

The March 21, 1921 Lima (Ohio) News notes that Milliken was also charged with performing a fatal abortion on Florence Cobb. He was held on $10,000 bail in each case, Iva's and Florence's.

Iva's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a [|physician].

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1920s].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion]

Source: 110 Ohio St. 381, 144 N.E. 264, 33 A.L.R. 53, 2 Ohio Law Abs. 375, 22 Ohio Law Rep. 160; Supreme Court of Ohio. Milliken v. Heddsheimer No. 18278.May 27, 1924

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